When we wrote about Gettysburg National Military Park in 2006, we admitted that it was indeed an “iconic American destination,” but warned you to wait until the new $100M Visitors Center opened in 2007-2008 to visit since the its “current infrastructure matches neither the area’s historical prominence nor its 2M people per year tourist influx.”
Since our review, a decision has been made on the proposed Gettysburg casino (no go), and the closed-for-much-needed renovations Battle of Gettysburg cyclorama is one step closer to opening.
Our local paper announced this week that “A grand opening celebration for the restored Gettysburg Cyclorama painting and the Gettysburg National Military Park visitor center/museum will take place in September.”
We also learned from the paper that a team of Polish experts were flown in from Gab’s former residence Wroclaw to head the cyclorama’s restoration. What do Poles know about cycloramas?
Ryszard Wojtowicz, his wife, Danuta Drabik-Wojtowicz, sister, Wiktoria Wojtowicz-Janowska, and Wieslaw Kowalczyk worked on the preservation of Wroclaw’s own cyclorama, just as epic in size and relevance to its companion in Gettysburg, just as dilapidated before Wojtowicz’s team got to it. Wroclaw’s cyclorama, known to many simply as “The Panorama” depicts the Battle of Raclawice, “a famous episode of the Kosciuszko Insurrection, a heroic but in the end fallen attempt to defend Polish independence.”
(You already know how we feel about Kosciuszko.)
So, September’s grand openings will certainly necessitate a new visit and a new review to Gettysburg. In the meantime, click here to read what we wrote in 2006.
NationalParksOnline.Net 